Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, positive comments always brighten my days.

Sorry about the delay, I reckon most of my future updates will be spaced like this while I actually write them. You guessed it, Naruto's new defining moment comes at a price all who knew the truth would call far too high.

rant

The other guy though, yeah, you, the one who called a forgiving Naruto a piece of shit get the hell out of my story, in fact get out of my fandom. The Naruto I am trying to present is a close approximation of Kishimoto's Naruto, that means an ideal man, someone willing to see past someones actions, willing to look past their own judgments and able to move on, the truly strong, you ignorant piece of pish.

Every Dark Naruto fanfic is a cop out. There I said it, every one of them that has Naruto give up on the village, or succumb to their hate is cheating themselves. By corrupting Naruto like that on such a fundamental level you are destroying the character you claim to love so much.

Before someone mentions the waterfall of truth incident, how Naruto's dark thoughts are the true Naruto, that's not what that was and you know it. The point of it was that not one emotion or feeling defines someone, yes Naruto resents the way the villagers treated him and will he ever forget no, but he will forgive, because he's the better man, he's the guy who can push past his own darkness to face problems with a level head. Anyone who claims otherwise is the real dobe.

/rant

Also thanks I guess for inspiring me to get started on this chapter, illiterate japester

Still though please review, any comments on the writing style would be great, find my writing faults, drag me over the coals, help me be the better man

Chapter 3: Lies and Half Truths

Itachi Uchiha was deeply troubled by the orders he had just received, standing encased in the shadows outside the door of the unnaturally gloomy Hokage's office he peered into some far distance trying to justify his next actions beyond simple murder and his orders. He recognised the necessity of the orders, to a degree, he was to wipe of the Uchiha conspiracy, and there was to be no survivors of the clan so that there would be no chances of another uprising. He knew all about the coup plot, the Uchiha feeling; separated from the rest of the village, forcibly segregated on nonsensical points, forced to act as a police force for the village and constantly looked down on for harbouring the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune had come up with a way to end this. To seize power from those whom the deemed incompetent and instate themselves as the sole ruling power so that none might question their power. Itachi was aware of this because he was the son of the coup plot's leader and also the singularly most trusted spy for the movement placed deep inside ANBU. Unfortunately when Itachi's best friend Shisui was killed he had taken up his friend's role as a double agent, secretly reporting the goings on of the Uchiha to ANBU. He had seen his own clan's corruption increase steadily over the course of eight years, seen how they gave up on trying to be a part of the village, how they retreated into themselves growing bitter and paranoid over the smallest of things. It was destroying Itachi that the Hokage had ordered this of him, to kill his own family, already images were flashing in his mind, past kills while away on mission superimposed on his memories of his family and imagined pictures of his parents forms slumped together large gashes on their throat like second mouths will blood flowing freely down them soaking into thei…

"Woah there, Weasel, didn't see you there, too busy strolling through memories past I suppose," came the lazy drawl from the man who had collided with the stationary Itachi, not that he minded of course, if there was one person who could lift his melancholia it was his original ANBU captain. The almost imperceptibly depressed man was one of the first to recognise Itachi for more than just his clan and his talents, he was the first to understand Itachi's hatred of fighting and s such was one of the boy's only confidants about his life.

"It's fine Kakashi, I was merely engrossed in my own thoughts of my family" Itachi snarkily imitated his senior's style of excuses.

"Ara- and how are they recently, truly we haven't spoken so much recently." The gray haired man gave one of his signature eye smiles, eyelid curving downward while the masked portion of his face seemed to ripple and ooze happiness.

"Tou-san and Kaa-san is much the same as ever. Kaa-san wonders that Tou-san is pushing himself and Sasuke too far, while he merely engrosses himself further in his work and his thoughts. Sasuke, well she appears to have developed a rivalry with me? She seems to view me as this blockade on her life, that she can't be happy so long as I am considered better than her. Truthfully I believe she will far surpass me, hopefully in every way, she may envy my status as prodigy but her genius and drive will push her beyond limits I may never even conceive of." Itachi unloaded on his friend and colleague, "and then there's Naruto, he is so amazingly kind, I honestly wish I could be half as forgiving as he is, you know the villagers attack him ruthlessly? Break him in every way their shallow minds can conceive? And yet he crawls home once they are done, curls up in his bedroom and lets his wounds heal before he comes to out with not a scar or joint out of place. He thinks Tou-san and I don't know about it, he has a case for most of the village to be imprisoned for a very long time and yet he doesn't say a word, hides his pain just to protect them. His hope and belief astonish me. Tou-san on the other hand, well, he's not been the best father for the boy, pushing him into the dirt, refusing him little joys, practically refusing him a family. Every morning, though, when he sees Naruto leave his room looking unscathed and grinning like he's just discover the secret to happiness, I can see it in Tou-san, two conflicting emotions, hatred for the prisoner and pride for the jailor both burning so intensely inside him that some days I'm surprised he doesn't burn himself out."

A tear had formed in the corner of Kakashi's visible eye, "So like his parents, it's almost unnerving, haaa." The man grieved letting out a sigh hoping to settle his mind to stop the trickle becoming a stream down his face, silently begging Minato for the villages forgiveness, along with his own. "And yourself?" He inquired, aware of the boys assignment, to spy on his clan and inform the council on the progress made by those who would attempt to overthrow them.

"Distracted, and upset. Things are going downhill on every side, I don't know how things can be made better any more." Itachi revealed, baring his thoughts in the simplest ways he could while maintaining the secrecy needed for his newest orders. They talked like this for a while before Itachi left to commit his greatest crime, to end lives that should have no need to end.

The sun had set long ago when Naruto made it back to the Uchiha compound, he'd planned to spend his day once he'd escape from the hell that was the academy by finishing up his map of the village. He had no need of a road map for the town instead the map displayed the village as a series of sectors split up by hostility towards him with all the shops that would and would not allow him entry and other such information. It needed to be done soon, sure he was no where near graduating, and likely kicked out by Fugaku, but if he wanted to grow strong he needed to know where he wasn't likely to get turned away while he tried to develop himself. When as was usual he was attacked, first by the drunkards who didn't have the decency to hide him from the general public and then the rest after he was dragged into an alley. This beating had been longer than usual but, in what could only be seen as a kindness sent from god by the boy, his tormentors had kept themselves to their fists meaning that he wasn't actually that hurt, at least not compared to some days, hell he could walk home properly today.

He hadn't been paying attention so the first sign that something was wrong wasn't the lack of people on the streets or even the scream that cried out as he walked through the compound gates, no, it was the scent of fresh blood that entered his nose just after that. Running into the nearest house Naruto came to know despair, the oba-san and oji-san that lived here were two of the few people that had been kind to him, so it filled him with dread to find them lying in a pool of their own blood, large wounds cut deep into their bodies, entrails spilling out and entwining with the others as the oji's body was draped over his wife's corpse, his face dampened by two tear trails that had left his eyes only momentarily before he joined his wife in oblivion.

"Oh, good. You're here. I worried I would have to find you." Looking up Naruto stared into the eyes of his brother, entrapping himself in the genjutsu that came with the newly formed Mangekyo Sharingan, Tsukyomi. Ensnared in a strange world with a red moon over looking the most desolate landscape Naruto had ever imagined he found himself tied to a chair.

"Waaah? What is this? Itachi?Why were Oji and Oba-san dead? Who killed them?" The boy cried out, too filled with sadness at the sight to really question his new situation.

"I'm here Naruto," Itachi said materialising before the boy, "I killed them, I killed the entire clan, Naruto, do you understand? I have killed one of the village's founding clans. Sasuke still lives, though I have damaged her and left her with some advice I hope she hates me enough not to follow."

"But… But why Itachi-nii? Why would you do this? and what about me? Am I your next target? Are you really just like the rest of the village?" Naruto frowned unable to really align that thought, that his brother who had always watched over him could be just like if not worse than the villagers who beat him nearly daily.

"No, Naruto you are not next, I could never kill my siblings, I could never kill the two most innocent people I know" Itachi tried futilely to reassure the young boy. "I can't tell you why I did this, it is too big a secret for you to know about, just know there is a good reason for this. The best reason there could be for my crimes tonight."

"Okay. So if you aren't going to kill me what are you going to do with me?"

"I need to be sure of a few things." After a minute spent gathering his thoughts from the blood haze he had forced himself into to help numb himself to the slaughter had just conducted. "Remember that day when I sat with you while you practised calligraphy?"

"Yeah, sure. You asked me why I act like I do."

"Yeah and you told me you want to protect everything you can, your precious people and their precious people?"

"Uh-huh."

"I told Sasuke the only way for her to beat me was to hate me more, to desire power to sate her hunger for revenge and power. That was the worst lie I will ever tell. True strength, and power comes to those with a dream like yours Naruto, to protect. The strength you will need for your dream will not come from desire but necessity."

"Why are you telling me this Itachi-nii? Why are you acting like a good guy after doing this? Why are you acting like my brother and not the murderer of his clan?"

"Because Naruto events have conspired against us, you and me, I will have to leave now for what I've done. Abandon everything I had here, I may as well have died with the clan, but I need you to do something for me. Protect Sasuke, for me, from me, from others who may try to wipe out the last loyal Uchiha and, this is especially important, from herself. You must promise me this Naruto, you are the only one who can, because you know already the pain she will come to face." Itachi said imploring the boy he had trapped, ready to force his request on the boy should he refuse. If he hadn't robbed himself of his emotions before starting the entire ordeal he may well have broken at the sight of his mistreated brother trying to reconcile what he knew of the teen and his actions this night.

"I promise. I'll protect her. I won't let her succumb to the darkness, even if I have to give up everything, dive into the darkness myself and hold her up out of it while I myself drown. I won't back down on this promise. Or any other. This will be my way. This is my choice in life. To fulfill my promises, no matter the personal cost. Because seeing others happiness will always save me. I know this."

Tears welling up in his eyes more like Kakashi's had earlier at the mention of the gold haired youth before him, Itachi struggled not to cry out and lament the life that the boy was choosing for himself. "God Naruto, you truly are amazing. I can see it in you, you could be the best man I will ever meet. Please don't let the villagers hurt your heart, don't let them break you like they broke our family. Rise above them like I know you can, their pain and hatred blinds them, become their guide Naruto, lead them to salvation and a better tomorrow."

With his emotional blockade nearly torn to shreds Itachi reached out to the boy who squirmed against his imaginary bindings, fear and sadness brimming in his eyes at the hand that approached him. With a swift movement he knocked the boy out, hopefully for a while, longer than Sasuke if he'd done it right considering his exceptional healing.

Returning to the Hokage tower with speed comparable to that of even Maito Guy, Itachi steeled himself to hear the Hokage's congratulation on his job 'well done.' Only it never came, instead it was revealed that he had been deceived, being given false orders while the Hokage had been out of his office. Knowing that he had few options left to him he begged for Sasuke's protection from the machinations of whoever had tricked him, and for Naruto to seperated from his foster sister and for Hiruzen have a hand in his further upbringing, in exchange Itachi vowed to become a spy for Jiraiya, helping the sage's network of spies from inside anything he could. Seeing the young prodigy desperately seeking something, grasping at straw, searching for anything to give his life meaning after the acts he had been duped into carrying out Hiruzen agreed. As the young man left quickly hoping to escape the village before people learned the truth Hiruzen turned to stare at the stone monument showing his deceased colleagues and once again cursed himself for being unable to help as they might have.